Blue58, As you requested, after six weeks with the Blue in a Directstream dac (thus one piece only), I have to agree with most everything you just wrote (#474) about the sound differences. I'd add that the Blue is much more delicate and much louder than the Super beeswax, although those may be a function of its greater quietness to some degree. Nonetheless, I've gone back to the AM Super beeswax for the moment, and will now consider the Ultimate. Why? Primarily greater warmth and tonal accuracy (up to a point, I find the two go together). To me, the Blue in the DSD brings fantastic "sonic effects," but tonally makes things relatively cool and digital sounding, so that all music seems to sound the same and leaves me emotionally uninvolved. With burnin completed, I've come to feel seriously put off, wondering how the hell I could have put in this much effort and money and ended up feeling sometimes like I dread listening. Switching back to beeswax in the dac changes that to a fair degree, bringing me back into the music. I'll add that the beeswax's bass seems to be more substantial too (though less transparent). In addition to music, this is evident with TV, where the resonance of speakers' voices comes through much more (all my audio - modded Oppo 203 and cable - is run through the DirectStream). Of course, there is a matter of component and system synergy, but my experience makes me wonder if the SR Blue needs some seriously compensating warmth in a system, enough at least for the musically attuned ear.
System: PS Audio Soundbase, P5 Regenerator and DSD; Oppo 203, ATC SCM19A active speakers (SR BlacK), PS Audio power cords and MG Audio Design AG2 XLRs, Furutech NCF(R) outlet